WINTER may be just around the corner –

Cold spell: Alan Titchmarsh on creating a colourful autumn garden

WINTER may be just around the corner – but that needn’t mean a colour-free garden. Tend to containers now and you can create instant magic, says Alan

An ornamental cabbage will bring life to winter pots[GETTY

Summer’s drawing to a close – but don’t go leaving your tubs, troughs and window boxes empty once the show is over. Replant now, and you’ll have a great display for the autumn and winter months. Here are my tips for creating some stunning containers…

Pot chrysanthemums

Outdoor chrysanthemums are sold in full flower now, so just stand the pots in position for an instant effect. They’re only suitable for autumn displays, however, as the first proper frost will kill them off, but if you bring them inside – to an unheated conservatory or enclosed porch – they should continue to flower for a few more weeks.

Bedding cyclamen

The cyclamen we’re talking about here are not the hardy ones, but miniature florists’ cyclamen that are sold in trays or small pots for autumn bedding. To create your display, stand the pots inside a larger container – don’t tip them out or disturb the roots as that brings flowering to an early end. As with the outdoor chrysanthemums, these are killed by the first hard frost, but they will last all winter if moved indoors to a conservatory or cool room.

Blooming pansies

Various kinds of pansies and violas are sold in flower during autumn. Many stop when conditions turn cold, but real winter-flowering pansies will keep blooming until late spring, with only short breaks during very cold spells. The best varieties are the most expensive – so don’t penny-pinch. 

Flowering heathers

These are my top choice as they handle bad weather well and have a long flowering season, from November to March. They come in various colours, including white, pink, mauve and purple, while varieties with orange or golden foliage are also available. Winter heathers team well with evergreen shrubs, including berrying kinds. After flowering, replant in the garden if required.

Ornamental greens

Decorative brassicas that form rosettes of plain or frilly foliage – such as cabbages and kale – make a useful foil for winter heathersand last late into winter/early spring. 

Many compact or trailing perennials with good evergreen or semi-evergreen foliage can be used for your winter pot displays – and then you can plant them in the garden next spring. Try heuchera, lamium and hardy ferns. For out-of-season flowers, go for Helleborus niger (Christmas rose).

Year-round shrubs

The low-trailing Gaultheria procumbens is a popular evergreen, with large red berries, while Sarcoccoca hookeriana digyna will give you fragrant, early-spring flowers and arching stems and Viburnum tinus produces pretty winter buds. Trained hollies and potted topiary make great stand-alone specimens.

Invaluable ivy 

Ivies are brilliant if you want to hide the edges of hanging baskets, and they’re great teamed with mixed winter bedding plants or potted evergreens in more formal settings. Small, variegated evergreen euonymus plants are also good for this. 

Winter care

Choose containers that won’t crack in freezing weather and line them with hessian or a similar material to lag the inside, which will prevent compost freezing. But make sure there are plenty of drainage holes in the base, as too much water will cause problems in winter.

Use a compost that drains freely – you can make your own by mixing 10 to 20 per cent of perlite or polystyrene granules into multipurpose compost.  

Place your containers in a sheltered corner close to a wall to deflect the rain, and raise on bricks or pot feet to allow excess water to drain away. 

Hanging baskets are the riskiest winter containers as their height exposes them to rapid drying and wind-burn, so only mild, sheltered sites are suitable.  

During prolonged freezing weather, it’s best to move your containers into a shed or push several close together and surround them with bark chippings. Cover the tops with several layers of fleece for insulation. Remember, if roots freeze solid for any length of time, plants will die of drought as they can’t take up water, while some plants die later due to root damage